The Gate
by Donator
Summary: Tomb Raider / Stargate SG1 Crossover. Second in this years VOT story competition.


Disclaimer: This is a _Tomb Raider /__ Stargate SG1 crossover attempt by DONATOR. Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, her image and likeness are trademark and copyright © of EIDOS Interactive and Core Design. No infringement or challenge to these copyrights is intended. I give my consent to free distribution, unless it is put on media or other commercial exploit.  No special rating, mostly mild language and bearable violence. Feedback welcome.                                                                       Mailto: philipp.donat@chello.at_

T H E   G A T E 

... 09.10.1999  16:23:04

It's raining. An armoured troop transport of the United States stops at the outer SGC security perimeter, two miles away from the tunnel leading to the facility. After checking the permit of the escort, passage is granted. Judging from the furious yelling coming from inside the transport, the passenger isn't all too pleased about the destination.

... 22.11.1999  08:57:42

"Who is she?"

Vivaldi's notes were gently floating through the dim cellblock, deep, deep underground, buried beneath the Cheyenne Mountains. Not even a nuclear strike would be able to cause serious harm to the complex. And this was the deepest hole of all...

"I don't know."

Door by door, twenty or more cells rowed up on both sides of the detention wing's corridor, though right now all of them were uninhabited. The entire prison facility empty. Except one cell. Room 9, the fifth door on the left side, marked by a big, yellow number. Someone was behind that door and playing music.

"Have you seen her yet?"

"Err… No."

A soft, sad female voice mixed into the unruly sound of the violins, humming the difficult tunes with a precision as if she had listened to the sonata a hundred of times. The two guards exchanged puzzled looks, and both began to smile simultaneously, noticing how they were beating their fingers on the table and moving the tips of their boots in the rhythm of the beautiful music.

"How come she has a stereo?"

"Hammond's order. I think she must be a VIP of some sort."

            "A VIP?"

            "Hey, she's the only one in the whole compound..."

Now the light bulbs in the corridor's ceiling flickered for a moment, the flickering accompanied by a deep rumble coming from above, then nothing. Then a dull thud, like from a crate being dropped to the floor or a very heavy metal door being closed. Then another rumble and another flickering... One of the guards gazed upwards, then down the aisle. The humming had stopped, Vivaldi's violins were roaming through the hall solo.

"Weird."

"Mhm, 'never got used to that."

The sergeant scratched his head. Another thud, another and another, seven times, then it stopped abruptly, and after a minute the woman in the cell, who seemingly had been turning her attention to the strange sounds too, started humming again. The younger of the guards soon picked up the dialogue where they had been interrupted.

"How long do we hold her captured?"

"It must have been about six weeks now."

"That long? And you've never seen 'er?"

A sly grin crossed the higher ranked one's face, and with an awkward movement he ran his fingers through the ice-grey crew cut mounting his square head. His partner had turned the seat to the other side of the table meanwhile and produced a card game from his jacket. While dealing out the cards, he observed his sergeant's behaviour, picking up his deck, and occasionally aiming a furtive glance to the interesting door number 9 between glaring at the cards, sipping his coffee and scratching his head.

"What'd she do that we 'ave to guard her twenty-four hours a day?"

"I guess she just knows too much."

            "Mhm."

The humming transformed into the sound of short, strained breathing, wheezing, mixed with occasional gasps, and then the sound of quick movements, jumping, the rustling of clothes and the resound of something landing on the floor. This repeated itself several times. While the sergeant only smiled, his companion dropped the deck on the table and knitted his brows, half standing up.

"What's she doing now? Is she... dancing?"

"No. It's nine o'clock, it's her workout,"

clearly amused by the other guard's unbelieving face, the sergeant continued,

"she doesn't even have a watch, Lord knows how she keeps track of the time here."

            "I'll check on 'er."

            "Private… Larkins... I don't think..."

Determined to find out more about the mysterious 'guest', the young guard ignored his officer's call and began walking along the yellow line painted on the floor, down the narrow corridor, towards the cell door on the left side. Two steps before he reached the locked entrance he picked the pepper-spray can from his belt, more out of habit than for safety's sake. 

            "Hey, Larkins!…"

Curiosity had got the better of the recruit. Carefully he shoved the small flap on the door open and peered inside. It took some time until his eyes had adapted to the relative darkness beyond. The cell itself looked like all the others, twelve feet in diameter, floor, ceiling and back wall of solid rock, the rest... concrete. A metal bunk bed, a table, a chair in the corner, a sink, a toilet, a locker.

And a woman.

She wore the standard olive-green uniform every person in the basis, except the commanding officers, were dressed in, but she had detached the sleeves somehow and she was barefoot. A beautiful brown plait hung down her back, it twitched like a furious dark snake along the rapid, angrily accented movements of her head and body. Vivaldi was still playing. What she had been doing looked like shadow boxing, but she interrupted her task the moment she heard the sound of the flap opening. She turned round.

And smiled.

Smiled the most charming and beautiful smile the young man had ever seen in his entire life, or at least he thought so. She seemed so delighted.

"Good morning."

Larkins unconsciously put down the pepper-spray, totally disarmed by that smile and the sight of this woman behind bars. Then he slammed the flap shut and turned to go, somewhat embarrassed by the deep impression her appearance had left on him. 

            "_NO! DON'T GO AWAY! PLEASE!..."_

He heard her running to the door. The pleadingly begging sound of her voice gave him a painful start and, involuntarily, he returned to the little grilled opening in the door. Her face waited closely behind it.

            "Thank you, you know, I don't have much company here..."

She quickly dried some sweat from her forehead, smiled and came even closer to the door. Larkins swallowed dryly when she raised on her tiptoes and put her fingers through the grille to get a better look outside. Despite the four centimetres of hardest weapon steel in between, her charm was working through and making him feel quite uneasy.

            "...after, well, they decided to lock me up here and throw away the key..."

She kept on talking hastily, like she was fearing he would walk away again if she ever stopped. It wasn't necessary, even if she had told him to go, Larkins was totally rooted to the ground, not capable of taking his eyes of this beauty.

            "...at first it is only a little boring, but then you begin to feel so lonely here..."

Swallow.

            "...see, I'm not a psychotic or something, whatever they might have told you..."

Larkins doubted that he understood every word she said, when she stretched the fingers of her right hand further outside and softly stroke his cheek. He flinched at the touch, but she quickly drew her hand back and apologised, never taking a breath in between.

            "...oh, sorry, it is so good to finally have someone to talk to, you can't imagine how..."

She giggled. She was so sweet.

            "...I almost forgot there was something outside this bunk..."

When she touched him this time he willingly let her draw his face closer to the grid and place her beautiful red lips on his... oh my... this was... wonderful...

... 22.11.1999  09:04:11

How much time had passed he wasn't able to tell when a heavy hand on his shoulder unpleasantly reminded him of reality.

            "_PRIVATE! What do you think you're doing?! Now MOVE IT!!"_

With a hearty laugh she let him go, amused by his embarrassed, wide-eyed stare. With a husky mumbled excuse he disappeared, his features replaced by the broad grin of the sergeant on the other side of the door.

            "Ok, Lara, you had your fun!"

He spied inside, a little suspicious. What he had heard, and occasionally experienced meanwhile, she was pretty dangerous if she wanted to. Lara was still there, the amusement clearly written on her face.

            "That was the fifth one in a row, if I count right," she laughed,

            "a new record I might come to believe."

Her voice turned serious over a sudden.

"Have you got any news for me?"

            "Sometimes you've got to tell me how you're doing this,"

the sergeant smirked, then supported himself against the door and looked at the floor,

"It's a damn shame, but they think it's safer to keep you here for another few..."

Held breath.

            "...months. At least."

No response.

            "...Lara?"

He heard her walking away, picking up a stool and mumbling something that was probably meant to remain inaudible for him.

            "This is not fair," he heard after some time.

            "You see, there is little to nothing I can do about it," the man outside shrugged,

            "you know 'bout the gate, and you didn't prove too co-operative, or so I've heard."

"Ah, the almighty President of America invites me to spend Christmas Eve in a high security compound of the US Army? Even if it seems like summer holidays compared to that Chinese labour rathole of last year, I'm not getting any younger! If they try to forget me in here I will make them sorry, I swear you!!!" came bitterly from inside.

            "The only way out is half a mile above and blocked by two hundred and fifty trained United States marines. Prove me wrong, but I just can't picture you standing the slightest chance, even if I would open up and hand you my weapon," he replied, and it sounded hurt.

Long Pause.

            "Clarence, no offence, I really like you, but if it wasn't for that stubborn cautiousness of yours I would've been able to pinch the key and been up'n away weeks ago. I want out! I hate it! I come to feel like a damn, pale earthworm here underground!..." her voice echoed from inside, without him noticing the silent undertone of desperation.

The sergeant sighed and took a sip of coffee.

            "...and now better get OUT OF THE WAY..."

It remained barely enough time to drop the coffee mug and back away from the door for him after the yell, when a loud twang indicated that one of the massive hinges had been crushed. A second later another racket on the lower end of the doorpost. All the former kindness instantly vanished from the old soldier's face when he took a secure position across the corridor, drawing and aiming his sidearm against the door...

            "_What the heck are you TRYING here LARA?! I WARN YOU!!!…_"

Men just have this serious problem with shooting beautiful women with large, fawn-coloured eyes, even if said woman was attacking with a makeshift crowbar, and that was the only reason why she got through with little more than a scraping shot on her shoulder, a black eye and a nasty bruise on her chin.

... 22.11.1999  09:07:33

Lara was armed and running for her life when thirty seconds later the intruder alert went off and the whole facility turned into something that held close similarity to a stirred wasp nest. Officers shouting contradictory commands, heavily armed MPs hustling along the cramped corridors, red lights flashing everywhere, alarm sirens piercing through the air, security blockades sealing off the important parts of the base, video cameras coming to life at every checkpoint, automatic weapons being distributed...

Knowing all this all to well from Area51 Lara added an extra sprint, clenching her fists. There wouldn't be another opportunity, if she fucked up this one she would probably spend eternity underearth. _Nothing's free, baby, nothing's free..._

The mere sensation of running felt so good now, even though the steel grids beneath felt cold and cut her feet.

She met the first marine all too soon, but he was alone, staring the wrong direction and didn't even see her coming before she kicked him in the ribs barefoot, with all the fury that had accumulated over the past six weeks. She left him coughing blood and cringing on the floor, herself conscious that her time was running short now with possibly the entire battalion stationed in this base on her back. His heavy machinegun she left behind, it would only slow her down considerably and a gunfight was out of discussion now. She had trouble enough.

... 22.11.1999  09:09:27

A terribly overworked Dr. Jackson stumbled out of his bunk, harshly awakened by the sirens. He was stifling a yawn, only to see a sweating woman in prison colours, fingers clenched around a pistol, running by with a ferocious grin on her face. She was accompanied by a whole hunting commando hot on her heels. Another day that surely would turn out to become an interesting one, he thought, searching for his glasses.

... 22.11.1999  09:10:19

Lara heard the squad leader's shouted orders when an assault team blocked and secured the passage behind her. These guys were much better trained, and acting considerably quicker than back in Nevada. Another team took position on the other end of the corridor and nine marines cocked their machineguns to make their demand unmistakable. Lara held her breath, desperately turning her head to spot a way out.

            "_STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"_

"In your DREAMS!!!…" she yelled back.

            "_Shoot her legs!"_

The men were extremely careful with their fire for not to hit each other, which provided her with just enough time to set everything on one card and try a racing dive against the next best door nearby. Fortunately it was a somewhat fragile opaque glass panel and it splintered when she hit it with her full weight. 

            "_GO, GO, GO...!!!"_

A few of the pieces cut very painfully into her arm when she sled over the tiled floor of the sanitation room, propelled by the speed of her running jump. To make matters worse the floor was covered by a thin layer of water and some disinfective that burnt awfully in the fresh injuries. Lara stifled a curse and hastened to get on her feet again when she heard the pursuers closing in, then suddenly became aware of the two half-dressed young men staring at her, who had been unpleasantly interrupted showering by the alarm she'd caused.

Problems appeared behind, gun in hand. At the only exit. Without thinking she grabbed one of the guys by his throat and put the pistol to his head,

            "_Don't move a muscle_!" she hissed into the terrified face, turning the young man round to hide behind him. 

            "_GIVE UP!!! YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!_" a megaphone barked.

            "We'll see about that!!!" she yelled back "No one enters or he's DEAD I say!!!"

            "_SURRENDER THIS INSTANT!_

_WE ARE ORDERED TO TAKE YOU DEAD OR ALIVE!_"

"Fine!" crossed her mind, "Americans and their manners…"

A quick look around didn't bring any new hope to her situation, there was no other exit, the drain was just two feet in diameter, the ventilation even less. All but a little grey panel that would barely fit…

            "YOU!" she pointed the gun at the other man "What is this? Where does it lead to?"

"It's the - the c-cable maintenance shaft…" he stuttered in reply.

            "PERFECT!" she shouted overjoyed, "and now big boy," Lara added with a gleam of hope in her eyes, "I want you to move your dream body and drag the locker over here to block the door while I try to make a silent getaway, yes?"

... 22.11.1999  09:12:00

"_I NEED FACTS!"_

"Lara Ashley Croft, citizen of the United Kingdom, civilian. Degrees in Archaeology and History. Honorary degree for her generous donations to the National University of Columbia. Various other awards. Daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, member of the British parliament. Speaks at least sixteen languages fluently, if not more, among them such exotics as Herero and some dialects used by the natives of Equatorial Guinea. Her knowledge of ancient cultures is absolutely unique and easily comparable to that of our dear Doctor Jackson. She's adept in survival, martial arts and using firearms. Level 4 sharpshooter..."

            "Objectively, if it wasn't for her reputation this sounds like the best qualification for an SG squadleader I've ever heard," one of the officers threw in. The man with the report in his hands gave him a stern look and continued reading,

            "...Classified as extremely high trained and dangerous. For her notorious profession she is commonly referred to as... now hold on... 'The Tomb Raider'... she is the one who broke into Area51 last year and escaped by hijacking one of our F117 stealth fighters. When we finally got our hands on her we decided to put her into the most inescapable prison existing in the US... this one. A fax from the NSA fluttered in shortly after, favouring the idea of letting her disappear once and for all, and when it finally hit the public that we had her behind bars, the Iraqi ambassador was the first to personally congratulate us on the arrest..."

            "Good god," General Hammond buried his round face in his hands, "And that woman on the loose right in the Stargate complex! What's the status on the searching?"

            "Unfortunately we haven't been able to pin down her exact location yet. Currently she's playing cat and mouse with our men, she's probably hiding somewhere in the drainage system, but Major Davis' commandos already comb that area. Time is working against her, the longer she stands still, the quicker we have her safely back behind bars!"

            "If she is so bloody brilliant, what is she trying to achieve with an attempted escape?" another staff member mixed into the discussion, "she has to know she can't beat the odds this time! I mean..."

            "After that stunt in A51 she can probably imagine that we are not intended to let her go anytime soon, so she has nothing to lose," Hammond shrugged, "it would be a shame if we had to shoot someone with her experience, but I won't give her a chance to gun down any of my men and cause even more trouble than she has done already."

            "Maybe there is..."

It was then when the ringing of the intercom on the desk interrupted the hurriedly summoned conference. All staff members fell silent and scanned the General's face for hints on what was going on. Hammond paled slightly after he'd answered the call.

            "What do you mean... disappeared? Our surveillance system is worth a nine million dollars, Major, and you tell me about difficulties... I don't want to hear..."

            "_Put the phone DOWN!"_

Eleven heads jolted round and twenty-two surprised eyes rested on the woman with the pistol who had seemingly sprouted from the ground behind them. When nothing happened she frowned, mumbled a curse and fired into the air. This had the desired effect.

            "Could you explain to me why everybody _except the commanding officers is armed to the teeth here?" she grinned and took a seat, holding a respectable distance to the long table with the eleven dumbfounded men in blue uniforms sitting around, "You really need a few watchdogs of some sorts here, Dobermans would be fine... as you can see, cameras alone won't stop anybody."_

            "There is no way out!"

            "SHUT UP! I've heard enough of this small talk today!" Lara silenced him, "Oh, and you can't be the architect of this place then," she sneered sarcastically, "because as I am informed there are really _two entrances to this base, the first is the one I came in through, the other is the one I'm intended to move out..."_

            "...hmm, " she feasted on the astonished looks she received, "I can't say I did enjoy your hospitality at all, so don't be surprised I don't want to stay until someone decides I'm to big a security risk to be kept alive any longer. Or whatever foolish idea your military brains might come up with sooner or later! Maybe it has been missed out to inform you about all the details of my edifying chat with your secretary of state when I was transferred here."

            "What are you going to do then?" Hammond asked with equanimity, his head turned back imperceptibly. It gave his features an arrogant, almost aristocratic touch. The hopelessness of her situation was mirroring in his face, even though it was _him staring into a black orifice, 9mm diameter. Lara had to put some effort into not losing her poker face, conscious that her next actions were the decisive ones._

            "Allow me to travel to Abydos," she demanded, with a flickering in her eyes difficult to classify. These words caused a surprised whispering in the room, and for a moment she feasted on the astonished faces. "I've waited all my life for a chance like this one, and it makes no difference to you if I am locked up here or stuck on the other end of the galaxy. Archaeologists spend lifetimes dreaming of such opportunities, I would be really grateful... maybe I could forget the six weeks and call it a misunderstanding," she added with a smirk.

            "And if we don't?" 

Lara's smile froze. She had taken extra care not to put up a threat of any kind in her speech, which left her out of options now. Announcing that she would else shoot someone if they didn't comply to her demands would have no effect here, and even if she did... they would rather sacrifice a few and execute her afterwards than put the secret in jeopardy. She owed them an answer and couldn't give one...

            "The United States do not negotiate with terrorists!"

            "Terrorists! TERRORISTS?! Wasn't it ME who was shot out of the sky, hunted through the jungle with bloodhounds, for nine terribly long days, without food I've to add, when finally surrounded, wasn't it ME who received a bullet in the leg for no apparent reason other then your black ops teams being afraid of a single woman armed with only a small knife?… _WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE_?!"

Everyone flinched upon her sudden eruption.

            "Would you excuse my temper," she added mockingly after a moment of calming, "you might understand the difficulties I have acting polite after that kind of treatment. And I consider my demand a VERY small favour, not anyhow adequate to what I deserve."

With a look clear of any emotion she put the pistol on the table, hard, so everyone could hear it, then leant back in her seat and waited, hands supported behind her head.

...

Had she surprised the eleven uniformed men once, she managed to do it a second time now. Several excruciatingly long moments had to pass by before the one sitting nearest to her carefully put his hand on the gun and slowly took it out of her reach. Puzzled looks were exchanged during the long, baffled silence.

Lara counted the seconds and was breaking into a sweat, conscious that it could be only moments until the door would be busted open and the room filled with dozens of armed men wearing helmets and submachineguns. Hammond was still giving her a stare, but this time it seemed downright pitiful.

            "I am sorry," he said and bent forward to press a button on the intercom,

            "I really am. Major Davis, she's right here… yes, in the conference room."

Lara's eyes narrowed to slits, and with a sleek, cat-like movement that was hard to behold by its sheer speed she kicked the man to her right off his stool, regaining control of her pistol before anyone else could interfere. Even though several of the men had jumped up at her action it had been much, much too late.

"Down! Sit DOWN!!!"

As it was emphasized by the gun they quickly complied with her demand.

            "Wrong answer, General! Very, VERY wrong answer!" she shouted heatedly, quickly pointing the pistol from one to the other, "I had thought we could settle this without any more atrocities to take place but you left me little choice. I take it the control room needs a retinal scanner print of a commanding officer to operate, and you're damn lucky I need the whole of you to show me the way… now GET UP!"

... 22.11.1999  09:17:32

Daniel was already panting, having a hard time keeping up with O'Neill's pace,

"Unbelievable, she really threatened the General?!"

"She's taken him hostage in front of all staff members, right out of the briefing."

"And nobody knows how she was able to break out?"

"Nope."

"But all she has is a pistol!"

"Right. Or so I was told."

"So what? What are they going to do now?"

"No idea."

"Aren't you curious?"

"Not my problem. Who cares? I hope they'll shoot her and put her back to jail!"

"Jack, she came running past my room hardly fifteen minutes ago, well, I couldn't see her face…  my glasses, you know… but the whole base is talking about nothing else, that woman is amazing..."

At this point Colonel O'Neill felt the sudden urge to have the torrent of words stopped by strangling him, but left it with clenching his fist and sighting while jogging along the corridor.

            "Daniel! You're missing an important point here, right now General Hammond has a loaded gun put to his head and there's that crazed woman who wants him to open a passage for her. Do you have any idea what a chaos she's caused in Pentagon? How could she know of the stargate? What do you think we should do now, ha?"

Dr. Jackson was rooted to the ground in baffled silence for a moment.

            "Lara Croft…" he said finally, his eyes lighting up in understanding.

Instantly O'Neill grabbed his shoulders and shook him, "How did you… WHO told you that? And who is she? Daniel, if you know something about her that might…"

            "Jack, JACK!… only she could know. You must not believe a word they've told you about her, you hear me? If someone asked me who the single most outstanding Archaeologist on this planet was… it's… it's her! She's brilliant! She's a genius!…"

            "…go ahead…"

            "…believe me! She's probably seen more strange things than we have, and she didn't even have to leave the planet! I've contacted her frequently in the past years to consult her on things we found, inscriptions we couldn't translate. She's probably the last living person on earth who can read Linear D and Arraki dialect, and she does it effortlessly, like if it was a good book in front of the fireplace!… there is probably not a single country she hasn't been to, every scientist dealing with ancient cultures knows the name Lara Croft, she... she has become something like a living mythos of her own time meanwhile…"

            "Damn it, why do we hold her imprisoned then?…"

            "…It was me! My god, it's all my fault! Now I understand it! I wanted to impress her,  I got curious and one day I sent her that picture of a staffweapon, asking her if she already had come across one of these things and she…"

            "You did WHAT?!" O'Neill inhaled sharply.

"…and she just laughed in reply, saying yes, and that it all made sense now and where I had got it from. The things she said next, that theory about the common origin of all cultures I could not understand back then, but what she asked then was if I had found some ruin on an island, and when I denied she asked if I had found some kind of gate and that really scared me out of my wits and … and…"

            "Ok, ok, we'll talk about that later! Come on, we're running out of time and we've still got to find Carter and Teal'c, and fast! And I hope someone got a brilliant idea how we can get her to set the General free meanwhile."

            "Maybe if I could talk to her?…"

            "I was thinking more along the line of Zet-gunning her…"

... 22.11.1999  09:23:47

            "Where are we? Where ARE we?… You.. YOU THERE!!! OUT OF MY WAY! You hear me? I said I don't want to see a single… now DON'T even think about it! Or your General here WON'T like it! Put that gun down, _PUT IT DOWN_…, yes?… and PRONTO!…"

The soldier complied and raised his hands after a moment's hesitation.

"You cannot win, why don't you…," Hammond mixed in.

"General… Hammond…George? Might I call you George now that we've come this close to each other?" Lara was still holding the General by his collar, more leading him through the facility than the other way round, thinking it was better not to trust her hostage more than her feelings in terms of telling her where to go in this modern labyrinth, "Now why won't this door open up? Come on, say -'Open sesame!'- for Lara, will you?"

"The elevators won't function during any alarm, and the stairways are sealed automatically for any other reason than fire," the General moaned.

            "Uh? Is that so?"

With a swift motion Lara aimed at the ceiling and shot out one of the countless fire detectors. As a direct result even more annoying sirens mixed into the already unbearable concert of shrillness and the water sprinklers went off. The soldier across the isle flinched when suddenly the door next to him opened up to reveal a staircase leading down…

... 22.11.1999  09:26:07.354

            "SH…!!!"

... 22.11.1999  09:26:08

What O'Neill had realized a fraction of a second before everyone else in the corridor, was that by setting off the sprinklers Lara had unwittingly corrupted the whole plan of ending the hostage situation completely. But it was already too late, the bluish flash of the Zet-Gun whizzed through the moisture filled air, and upon impact with it's target instantly dissolved into twenty or more powerful arcs, reaching and eating it's way back across the water covered walls and floor with frightening speed.

A dozen screams mixed into the noise when every person in a ninety feet radius was almost simultaneously electrocuted into painful cramps and brief unconsciousness.

It took barely ten seconds for Lara to recover, a groaning Hammond following only moments later. They had been standing right under one of the sprinklers, which had sprayed an almost perfect Faraday-cage in form of a circular shield of water around them, thus causing the electricity to do much less harm than intended. But pretty everybody else was still knocked out cold or twitching like a fish on dry land.

            "Whoa! OW!" Lara rubbed her head, trying to get her wits together what had just happened to her, but to no avail. The General, being quite a few years older, was still in no condition to walk, and the armed guys on the far end were making first attempts of coherent language, so it was time to go and put the involuntary advantage to some good use.

... 22.11.1999  09:28:11

            "You all OK?"

"Oooooh my gawd…"

            "OK?! Idiot! Jack, you IDIOT! I told you it was an idiotic idea!"

            "I am SORRY! How should I've known that…"

            "…This was not very effective, O'Neill."

            "Now HOLD IT! At least we've got the General back, don't we?"

            "He'll issue you a medal I bet…"

... 22.11.1999  09:29:53

The short rest didn't last long. Without a human shielding Lara desperately ran for her life, never looking back and hardly guessing where she was going when she suddenly slipped on the wet floor and sled forward into a curve of the aisle, only to be greeted by a hail of bullets, fortunately all aimed on eye level. While hastily crawling backwards and keeping her head down, a quick counting of men and weapons added for a LOT of lead flying the wrong direction. Brilliant! Now angered, they were shooting first, asking questions later.

Taking a devious route now led her into a dead end. Well, barely. The fire sealing mechanism was ten inch from falling closed, and looked heavier than a drawbridge. She would try anyway. Sprinting and sliding she got her legs, even her lower torso half-through, but there it stopped and she began to feel the weight of the enormous steel-thing pushing down on her ribcage, all wriggling and writhing and pressing and squealing futile…

            *click* surrrr……..

Security mechanism. Good lord, heavens and all archangels thank you very mucho…

The thing pulled back up a few centimetres, just enough for a human being to crawl through, then resumed the shutting process until a heavy thud indicated that it was locked and secured behind her.

Panting a little air into her mangled body she found herself stared at by a whole lot of terrified, white-mantled research personal carrying strange and even stranger stuff to safety, with a devotion close to ant-workers…

... 22.11.1999  09:34:22

            "Now we have her. There is absolutely no other way out of Science Lab."

General Hammond sharply sucked in his breath in disbelieve when he looked at the surveillance screen, still a little shaky from the stun, watching the woman with the pistol threaten the scientific staff, walking from one workplace to the other, curiously observing her findings, playing with pieces of raw Naquada mineral while throwing a few questions to the scientists, examining a few of the countless artefacts stored and analysed there, staffweapons, bioprobes, sarcophaguses, communication orbs, shielding mechanisms and so on…

            "On the other hand it could be the worst thing that could even happen," he responded.

…

The high-pitched, frightened scream from the loudspeaker that suddenly perforated the room gave all a start and everyone's eyes were fixed on the screen, where the little woman with the plait had just dropped her weapon and fallen on her back in shock after having got sight of their latest discovery, a sight truly one of a kind to behold:

A woman - with wings.

…

"I want Dr. Jackson down here _THIS INSTANT!!!_" Lara yelled into the camera,

            "I guess you don't have the slightest idea what a problem you've got here!"

And to emphasize her point she blew it out afterwards. The screen went black.

... 22.11.1999  09:37:14

After Hammond had personally informed the Pentagon about the current condition, and that it was unlikely the situation could be solved conventionally without casualties in two to three digit numbers any more, he was told trained personal was on the way. He added the name "Lara Croft", and after a pause he received the order to keep her busy until a battalion of the National Guard could arrive with heavy machinery. Which didn't make him feel any better.

            "We could still flood the entire level with nerve gas, sir," someone offered.

            "I'm thinking about it," he responded dryly.

Daniel declared he had been waiting all his life for a chance of talking face to face with Lara Croft anyway, so without any further discussions he was outfitted with a bullet-proof vest, a helmet, and the order to buy as much time as possible. Nevertheless he had a damn bad feeling in his gut when he carefully approached the steel door with two rows of kneeling marines behind him, cocking their guns.

With a low hum of the servomotors the heavy door lifted upwards a few centimetres.

            "Come in! And be quick about it!" someone hissed on the other side.

            "You mean… couldn't you…"

            "NO!"

He threw a quick glance back over his shoulder, and the General nodded, so he dropped on all fours, then flat on his belly. An arm reached out under the door, seized him by his neck and quickly dragged him through the opening that closed and locked instantly after his body had passed through. Before he could say another word he was pulled to his feet and his face pressed against the wall by the little woman that seemed extraordinarily muscular for her size. With a grunt she forced his legs apart and put away the pistol to search him.

            "Lara…"

            "On your FEET! And, beg your pardon, hands to the wall where I can SEE them!"

            "Ok, ok… I am not wired…"

            "That's really too bad. I had hoped I could talk to your superiors afterwards."

            "After what?"

"After a nice philosophical excursion, a bit of socializing chit-chat… ah, but let's see if you've got something useful for me first. Take off your boots! I'll probably need them more than you do my friend. And that flak jacket, too," she grinned and quickly slipped into his combat boots, sighting relieved at the feeling of finally having shoes again.

"How they could even consider shooting at a woman that beautiful," crossed Daniel's mind now that he was standing toe-to-toe with her and he swallowed dryly. He slowly glanced around, but no one else was to be seen in the room except them any more.

"I've locked all in the bioprobe refrigerator, 12°C, no worry," she explained unasked, "they'll be kept fresh."

            "I was sent to…," he began, but was instantly interrupted by her deadly serious voice,

            "…_no, no, no!_ First you will explain THIS to me…,"

gripping his shoulder in a steely clutch she spun him round to face a woman, strapped down on a surgery table, apparently dead or comatose, her red, leathery wings neatly folded up beside her body, her blonde hair shaved to a minimum to attach a number of devices monitoring her brain function. None of them actually worked now, because instantly after Lara's intrusion to the lab the power lines had been cut in standard safety procedure.

            "Extraordinary, isn't it? She was found two days ago…," he began, a little stuttering.

            "You can imagine, I'm interested in the details," she waved with the gun.

            Daniel protested,

            "I fear that's… um, classified."

One could hear a gun clicking.

            "I – don't – think – so!" Lara calmly accented the words.

            "…all right, the dig was set up barely a week after that island in the Mediterranean had been blown to pieces, back in 96', and a few days later it became obvious that a volcanic eruption, like the satellite photos had indicated first, was out of discussion," Jackson hastened to explain, "The official geologic instability mumbo-jumbo was all rubbish, I was in permanent contact with the dig site and because we had just got the gate…," he paused to look at her, "…to work for the first time, now everybody got extremely nervous when we found things that had Hieroglyphs printed on it, you understand?"

            "No, I don't! So?"

            "Easy, easy… as I said, I was in permanent contact with the dig site, and we found a lot of interesting stuff in the rubble, but the whole mountain seemed to have collapsed there and everything slowed to a crawl and soon everyone lost interest until… until, well… two days ago… you see…"

It was growing harder for her to endure his silly, fascinated grin every second...

            "So you found her? Why doesn't she stink then after three years?"

            "She was in a sarcophagus." It seemed the most normal thing to him.

            "A… sarcophagus?"

            "Yes."

            "What do you mean? What kind of sarcophagus? She wasn't embalmed, or what?!…"

Right when she was about to hold a small lecture about recent Atlantean history, the woman groaned and flicked her eyes open.

            "She is _ALIVE?!_"

Lara's heart missed a beat, and though her own eyes bulged out of their sockets in astonishment, Dr. Jackson obviously had anticipated something like that to happen. Even if he appeared downright hysterically excited, it was probably just a normal condition of his.

The woman writhed as if she was in pain, shut her eyes again, groaned, flexed her muscles and tested the bonds that held her on the table. When she opened her aqua-blue eyes again she was looking around unruly, but in the end continued staring at the ceiling without taking notice of the others around her.

            "Is she blind, Daniel?" Lara flustered.

"Yes," he answered her at the same level, "a side-effect of the regeneration process which takes place inside of the sarcophagus. It's not permanent and won't last long. What do you think that thing on her arm is?"

With a sudden jolt the woman raised her head and vaguely looked in their direction, still trying to see, but to no avail. Finally she opened her mouth to speak.

            "Hallo? Is someone there? Can you hear me? Where am I?"

Dr. Jackson was about to answer her when Lara covered his mouth and gestured him not to. Very cautiously she bent down to the woman's ear and whispered just two words.

            "_Hallo Natla._"

Instantly the woman's body stiffened and her face paled considerably while her mouth opened to form a silent, astonished O. Then her two rows of blinding white teeth snapped together and produced a grinding sound that was unmistakably dripping with hatred:

            "_YOU!_" 

            "You two know each other?" Dr. Jackson tried to interfere, baffled for once.

            "We have met," Lara snapped and gestured him to stand back.

            "_Where am I? What do you want? I am blind! Have you come to correct your mistake and put a permanent end to my life for once?_" Natla was tearing at the restraints like mad, screaming her question into the room, "_I WILL KILL YOU! I will kill all of you if I only get the chance!!! You bitch! Who do you think you are, you vermin! You worm! You little brat! Look at what you did to me?! Couldn't you've just killed me? Do you have to degrade me atop of all you've done to me? I hate you! I – I – ha – hate – you – ou –  …._"

The table was designed to withstand the toughest of attacks, and for a reason. Natla was in a state of mind Lara feared something might just snap and the woman would go crazy. She was still straining the bonds to the outermost limit, raging like a lunatic with tears in her eyes and unable to speak clearly any more, but after some time it looked like she had spent her powers for now and she just lay back and rested, heavily panting, her eyes closed to save a last bit of dignity.

One didn't need to be a trained psychiatrist for a vague idea how fatal the wrong words spoken now could be for the woman, and Lara took a long time to consider what she wanted to say to her. Which was pretty hard to decide in the end. 'I am sorry' sounded just dumb, 'deserves you right' was a tid bit risky on the other hand… 

"I could need your help, Natla," she whispered hoarsely, every fibre of her body screaming at her at the same time to finish the crazed woman once and for all.

Natla was calm in a second.

            "No. No-o!!" she burst into a mad chuckle "that's a joke. It must be a joke!"

…

And after another pause,

            "…_SET ME FREE!!!_ Look at me, what can I do, ha? Run against walls?"

            "Fly… against walls? Can you? Or are those wings only rudimentary?"

            "_Daniel!_"

            "Who's that? TELL THAT §$%&*#$ TO WATCH HIS MOUTH!!!"

Lara decided it was save enough for now to spend a few minutes on doing a quick summary on what had happened in the past years and what had brought them down here together, all the while continuing her search through the lab for weaponry or other useful equipment. Daniel Jackson couldn't do much but stand aside, remain silent and listen to her, together with a still pale white Natla that lay stiff like a brick stone and didn't even flinch at the revelation of where she was now and how much time had passed meanwhile. Not until Lara told her about the stargate.

            "So someone finally found it? By mere accident I suppose," Natla laughed scornfully.

            "Lara, what is she talking about, who… is she? Who are you?" he turned to her.

            "Shh.. but it isn't of Atlantean origin, is it?" Lara interrupted him.

            "Atlan…?"

            "Not now! Who built it? It's the only way out, so could you operate it?"

            "Hardly," Natla snapped, "we had little contact with the Goa'uld. Back then our races were about evenly matched, we easily made up their advance in space travel with our  bioengineering capabilities, and so we allowed them a little mining colony in Egypt to prevent a war. But they became greedy all too soon. What did you think, that the final revolt against Ra was purely accidental? One of my best chess moves in outer politics ever."

            "Revolt? What is this Goa'uld thing you're talking about?"

            "Not what… but WHO," Jackson mixed in, "I think this is more my own resort now."

            "Wrong! Your time's up," Lara stopped him and pushed him away, "I can get along quite nicely here without you, and the less you know about her, the better for you, believe me. You can either go to the fridge like all the others if you want, or get out this door, tell your General to leave me alone or risk a massacre, and buy me some time. Now go!"

            "But you can't… I mean I wanted to…"

            "Are you deaf? GO!"  

"…_please_!" she begged him when he didn't move.

He nodded and went off to the door.

"I see that man is smarter than you are, a pleasant thing to see," Natla continued with a shrug after Daniel had left, "Tihocan had that thing dismounted and buried, I pleaded the council to think again and explore it's possibilities, but NO… nobody ever listens to me, you know. I wonder why the Goa'uld haven't overrun all of you yet, dumb as you are now after the fall of Atlantis. It seems one of their guest presents saved my life though, or do you think the wings and the armcannon were the only enhancements made to my body?" Natla laughed silently, a violent twitching suddenly beginning to run across her features and mechanically opening and closing her eyelids, "Repaired the damage quite nicely. But you can forget it anyway, you don't have anything to offer me in return for my help, so let me be and die your brave death alone if you want to. I just hope they get you alive and do something evil to your body before they send you on the chair or into the chamber."

            "Fine with me," Lara snarled, "I don't care, Idiot. I will go and leave you lying here. Plasma technology, think about it. They will probably saw that thing off your arm, and afterwards they will dissect your torso just to find out how the wings are jointed to your body. At least that's what I would do and I don't even consider myself overly sadistic. Or do you really consider trying to talk to this stone-age bunch of military loonies?"

Pause.

            "I am seeing your point," Natla sighed, "So what? I take it I don't have many options here? Make your choice. I won't be a big help as long as I cannot see." 

"On the other hand," she groaned when Lara hesitated, "you could at least set me free so I can spread my wings, they are killing me by now, I can tell you. But don't expect me to thank you for anything afterwards, Lara, we're far yet from finished with each other!"

            "No, you're right," Lara said through clenched teeth while bending over the table and starting to open the beltbuckles, "What should I care? We don't have any options…"

... 22.11.1999  09:55:49

Meanwhile outside the picture had changed a lot towards high tech warfare, the marines being replaced by a commando unit equipped with gas masks and infrared goggles, readying for an open assault, while at the same time a heavy, six-barrelled machinegun was mounted right across the entrance to cover an eventual retreat. Lara had blocked the mechanism to manually raise the fire door right after Daniel had left, but several specialists were already planting a circle of plastic explosive charges to open it by force.

            "Who is in command here?"

            "That's me, sir. Lt. Commander Cole, SFCo. I got my orders directly from HQ."

            "Are you ready?" Hammond was watching the preparations.

            "We're talking about a single women here, aren't we?" the special forces commander inquired unbelievingly, "It will be over in a matter of seconds, General, we blow the door open, throw in a flash-grenade and instantly begin filling the room with teargas. She won't even come to realize what hit 'er."

            "Do you have a take on the situation inside?"

            "Unfortunately, no, "the commander admitted, looking to the side, "that's the only weak point in the plan, she has disabled all cameras and covered the only control window. This lab was obviously designed to hermetically seal in possibly hazardous materials, and that makes it equally impossible for us to get a spycam inside."

            "You really want to risk a blind assault?"

            "Well, it's just like in the good old times when we had to rely on our reflexes, sir."

            "I can't say I have a good feeling with this…," Hammond sighed and gave him a stern look, but was interrupted when a man came to a halt beside him, completely out of breath and escorted by two members of the SF unit,

            "…Jackson!… what on earth is going on in there? Did you speak to her? What about the hostages, is someone injured?"

            "Nobody was hurt yet. And she's asking for time."

"More time? Nothing else? Why is she asking for time?"

"Her time's running up, we're ready to go in any second now!" the unit commander interfered, "I am not allowed to accept any prolonging of the hostage situation. Is the gas ready? Red and gold unit, get in position. Red is going in first, covering to the right, gold follows to the centre and blue covers the rest. Shoot to kill if you need to…"

"There are still more than twenty people inside, mister, " Hammond argued, his bald head red like a tomato, "and I'm not willing to risk their lives yet!"

            "I am sorry, General, but this is not yours to decide any more."

... 22.11.1999  09:56:20

Lara quickly placed herself two steps back after she'd unlocked the last of the five restraints and now kept her weapon aimed right between the woman's unearthly blue coloured eyes, never diverting her glance from Natla's right arm though. Every time she was looking at it, the burn scars on her back started to itch again.

            "Make a sudden move in my direction with this thing and you'll regret it!"

Rising to a sitting position, Natla unfolded her wings and spread them to their maximal reach, stretching her arms and arching her back at the same time like somebody who had been wakened from a long sleep. You could hear cracking sounds from all joints and bones like one would expect from a woman that had been in coma for three years. Lara watched her running her fingers through what was left of her hair and then feeling down her body.

            "Not as if I was prudent or something," a slightly shivering Atlantean muttered, "but would you mind getting me some clothes?"

For a split second Lara felt very comfortable that the woman couldn't see her grinning, and then she slowly put down the gun to search the lockers where the scientists left their clothes when they changed into their hazard suits. A pair of trousers roughly the right size was easy to find, but how Natla intended to adapt her physical abnormities to clothing fit for a common torso she was still interested to see. And gradually she began to admire those wings and the elegance Natla was moving with them, even if she seemed still a little clumsy, stumbling around on a pair of legs that yet had to accommodate to the task of walking.

            "Try to find a scarf or something else I can wrap around. If not, a bra alone must do."

            "Figures…" Lara resumed to rummage about the pile of clothing.

            "For as long as my vision is inoperable you will have to tell me exactly what to do. I mean everything, from the dimensions of the rooms we're going in to where I've to go, what to do, how to aim and so on…" Natla explained while trying to put on what Lara handed her. Then, with a brisk motion, she slapped away Lara's hand when she felt it trying to help her.

            "Don't _DARE_ to help me. I can do that alone," she hissed heatedly. Suddenly one could hear a low, very peculiar hum in the room, emanating from the device fused to Natla's arm that Lara unfortunately was all too familiar with.

            Before she could even react Natla felt a cold, edgy piece of metal pressed against her temple and a hand clutching her throat.

            "Freeze!… Now tell me…what - was - _THAT_ ?"

            "It's linked to my metabolism as well as my limbic system," Natla explained calmly, having difficulties to speak until Lara loosened her grip a little, "because in order to draw power from my body it needs to stimulate my glucagons reserves. The firing mechanism is partially based on hormones and neurotransmitters as well, and for the same reason my physiological condition and my emotions have a direct influence on the effectiveness of this weapon. It's working very economically, but after each firefight I'm almost starving. And now take this thing out of my face you nervous paranoid!"

            A few seconds of silence later the gun was quietly removed from her head and Natla cleared her throat. She could hear the clicking sound when Lara secured the pistol, and then felt something warm and sticky that was partially wrapped in paper pressed in her right palm.

            "There, it's chocolate. I found it in one of the uniforms. Power up and let's go, I don't know how long Daniel can hold back the cavalry. They should try to come in any moment now, the lazy bastards always run their countdowns up to a full hour…" 

... 22.11.1999  09:59:38

            "Team Red ready?" Cole flustered.

His second in command held up the bomb fuse and waved an OK-sign.

            "Ready!

            "Team Gold?"

Four of the five men equipped with tactical shotguns nodded in unison, the first in the row, holding two flash grenades in his hands, smacked his lips and lifted a thumb.

            "Ready!"

            "Blue leader?"

The bulky man with the teargas launcher dropped to one knee and aimed at the door.

            "Everything prepared, sir!"

            "Backup team?"

From behind the machinegun one could hear a grunt, spitting and the rubbing of hands.

            "Next time I want to hear a 'yes-sir', clear and loud, Johnson, you old pig!" Cole hissed furiously, "Everyone on position! _GO_ in five, four, three… … stop, _sto - op_!"

A yelling coming from inside interrupted him and he hectically waved to his men to remain at their positions until the countdown was resumed.

            "_You there outside, can you hear me? Do not try anything silly! We're coming out now, so don't shoot, ok? Hold your fire…_"

Most of the men were looking at each other rather perplexed, then turned their heads towards their commanding officer for further instructions. The yelling suddenly stopped and was replaced by sounds of a quarrel or heated discussion. Cole gestured again for everybody to remain where he was and waited. A few degrees of urgency had mixed into the voice when it called again moments later.

            "_…oh, and… to those of you right in front of the door… I think you should better make a step to the side now… don't say I didn't warn you…_"

Even those few who had decided to take heed of the warning and jump hardly got out of the line of fire in time, the others who had waited until the peculiar sounding vibration caused their skin to tingle were already too late to evade the blinding white fireball after it had melted a roughly man-sized hole into the steel door. The sheer heat alone reduced everything in its path to a cloud of carbon-dioxide molecules, be it door, man, machinegun, wall, or even the wall behind the wall…

Gradually the smoke cleared. Who hadn't been incinerated instantly because of luck or carefulness was now inhaling his comrades, lying flat down and covering his head in shock while attempting to figure out what had just happened. Natla stepped through the hole in the door that her shot had caused, and after she had spread her wings and uttered a fierce growl, the last of those who were not yet retreating started to run.

... 22.11.1999  10:08:23

            "…next right, narrow corridor, nine high, five wide… careful with your head, pipes everywhere… sheez… all right, over here, lot's of stuff standing in the way, crates, boxes…"

Lara was desperately trying to guide her new companion through a maze that looked like another storage room and at the same time getting comfortable with the brand new sig551 swat carbine she had found beside a still smoking arm stump.

            "Are we being followed?" Natla asked suddenly, for the third time in a minute.

            "It seems they lost interest in harassing us after you blew the entire special forces commando sky high," Lara answered quizzically, "I doubt this thing has a -stun- setting?"

            "I like my opponents crispy."

            "I thought so…. watch your head!"

            "OW! I've got the uneasy feeling I'm not the only one running blind here you jack-ass! Do you have any idea where you're going?! As much as I hate to say it, I'm somewhat dependent from you here, and I don't like that feeling…"

            "If I understand you right then we are looking for a big, bronze coloured ring with strange symbols on it, how hard can that be?" came a little sarcastically accented.

Natla returned to what Lara believed was her native tongue for a reason in her reply, as Lara developed an attitude to let her run against things if she insulted her too much.

            "We are almost there. Or what's your opinion on a door with a double security lock made of titanium and 'Stargate Control Room' printed on it?" Lara announced happily.

            "_A trap_," the Atlantean woman answered reflexively, right the same moment when the grids covering the ventilation above were busted open and a half dozen men in black combat gear dropped right on top of their heads…

Lara remembered being kicked and receiving a whack in the face with the butt end of an MP5 right after unloading half of her ammo into the torso of the one nearest to her, and then being wrestled down rather inelegantly by another two of them throwing their superior size onto her belly-flop style. Natla caught it better, one of the assailants had grabbed her by her right wing, but obviously underestimated the muscles that she had grown to move it and so she had no problem lifting him up and slamming him against a wall. Hearing the noise of the other two she fully unfolded her wings and, half jumping into the air, brought both of them down with a great effort to knock the men off their feet with the buff. Lara used the distraction to pull the combat knife from the boot of the soldier lying atop of her and cut him across the face as deep as she could to get rid of him.

            "NATLA!" she gurgled, heaving the screaming man off her chest, "forty-five degrees, left behind you!"

The man had slithered down the aisle and readied his gun, but before he was able to squeeze off a shot at her, Natla responded to the warning, twisted her body in mid air and fired. The guess was good, she got him square in the chest and all that was left of him was an about man-sized, black burn mark on the wall behind him.

The remaining two ceased any resistance and lifted their hands up.

Natla landed hard and awkwardly, rubbing her eyes and beginning to show signs of the strain the permanent use of her weapon put upon her, but without hesitation she aimed her cannon into the direction she remembered the men standing…

Lara grabbed her arm and jerked it to the side,

"No! Enough I say! At least save your energy for the door!"

The rage displayed on the Atlantean's face was menacing when she turned to face her.

            "Don't you do THAT again," she hissed coldly through gritted teeth, "and leave the thinking to me, you baby! You've much yet to learn about war! It's all about threat and displaying what you _could_ do, then resistance will crumble all by itself."

            "You've already roasted half of their army," Lara responded calmly, "that should do as a warning by now. I think the threat alone will be sufficient."

Lara picked up the gun she had dropped during the fight and put it to the chin of one of her attackers, turning him to the nearest video camera. The man she had cut was still lying rolled up on the floor, groaning and holding his face.

            "General, I know you're watching this," she said into the camera, "I'll be a good sport and leave the injured alone, but if this door doesn't open in the next ten seconds, well, I can't speak for my comrade here… she will probably start to redecorate this room with smoking body parts and we'll come in anyway. So it's yours to decide, understood?"

Nine seconds later the door was open. Behind she caught a glimpse of the huge metallic ring she had been searching for.

... 22.11.1999  10:17:29

It was smooth and roughly bronze coloured, standing about seven metres tall and was stabilized and surrounded by equally impressive modern machinery that was obviously designed to conduct big amounts of electricity. A low metal ramp could be used to comfortably reach the centre of the ring. Even if it hadn't been covered with Hieroglyphs and other sorts of symbols, all alone by the aura it emanated like a heavy smell one could guess that the portal was truly ancient.

The entire machinery suddenly came to life when she entered the hall, sizzling of electric arcs and the low hum of charging capacitors accompanying the grinding sound of metal on metal when the inner ring began it's slow rotation. Lara watched the spectacle for some time, with her mouth gaping white open. An automated computer voice mixed in and commented the process…

            "Chevron one - activated… chevron two - activated…"

At the bottom of the ramp some people were waiting for them, Daniel, being the only one she knew, came up to her when she mustered them. The black giant with the golden tattoo on his forehead was particularly fascinating in appearance, gazing back at her with the same wordless curiosity she was scanning him. Man number three, badly shaved, wearing a green army cap, wasn't paying much attention to the ongoing at all, but judging from the sign on his chest he was the highest ranked among them, who were all belonging to a squad or group or something, all with those SG batches sewed to their uniforms. And then there was a blonde haired woman, with big, aqua blue eyes which looked down on her kindly, with an expression of pity once they had noticed all her injuries. Weird bunch of people, really.

            "Hello. Glad you made it," Daniel greeted her with a shoulder slap.

            "Who are these people?" she inquired, irritated by the sudden displays of sympathy.

            "My team. General Hammond decided he would rather disobey orders than watch his base turn into a war zone, even if Pentagon considers that energy weapon worth the risk."

            "How much time do we have?"

            "The reinforcements will arrive in roughly ten minutes. I think they issued a gun to every reservist in the region, but you won't have to worry about that when you're ten billion light years away from here," Daniel grinned proudly.

Even these seasoned space travellers seemed to be frightened a little when Natla playfully flapped with her wings a few times and dropped a condescending remark in her mother tongue that was even by it's sound identifiable as a provocation. As none of them was making any threatening moves though, Lara decided that it was safe to lower her weapon and release her last hostage with a playful smack on the bottom.

            "…chevron three - activated… chevron four…" the computer voice went on.

            "There are a few things I should tell you before you go," Daniel continued after a brief moment of hesitation, his voice bearing a sad undertone, "even though Abydos is considered a save place we had to install a mechanism to prevent others from opening a passage to earth, because of surprise attacks from other locations that had happened earlier…"

"…This means there's no turning back, because we cannot give you a remote control, it'd just be to big a risk," O'Neill cut him off, "and I doubt anybody would want to send a search party after you."

            "…chevron five - activated…"

Lara swallowed heavily. It didn't come unexpected, but still…

            "…chevron six - activated…"

            "What on earth did you expect?" Natla spat at her, causing a surprised silence now that she had switched back to her Californian accent, "Doesn't sound so cool after all to travel the universe and never come back to tell anybody, hon'…?"

            "…chevron seven - activated…"

What followed now, after the computer had completed the dialling sequence, was the single most impressive lightshow she was likely to ever see in her life, Lara had to admit to herself. All the capacitors had been charged up to maximum and were now simultaneously unloading the huge amount of power they'd gathered directly into the material of the portal. A faint glow was emanating from the metal, and then something seemed to explode right in the centre of the ring, reaching out into the hall, partly looking like a bluish sun flare, then again strangely reminding of a huge, horizontal water fountain. It vanished as fast as it had appeared before, replaced by a screen of shimmering substance that was even more similar to a pool of water someone had somehow forced to stand upright.

Lara felt her own pulse hammering in her throat and temples, beating at a pace so fast and powerful that it was probably audible.

            "What you see here is the niftiest method of travelling from 'point A' to 'point B', without ever passing through what you'd consider 'between' to be exact," Daniel announced proudly, enough one might have come to believe that thing was his own invention.

Lara had begun to ascend the ramp on shaky legs meanwhile, entirely overwhelmed by what she saw. She continued until mere centimetres were left to separate her from the event horizon, and the tremendous magnetic field caused all her body hairs to stand erect. Then she stretched her hand out.

"Damn it, the shiny stuff even feels like water," she thought when she felt it flow around her fingers, but it was so icy cold she flinched at the touch and pulled back her hand, slightly afraid of the numb feeling it had caused in her fingertips. For the first time in over six weeks, she felt happy again.

            "Cool, huh? Electromagnetic forces, so strong they almost feel like a substance, yet can completely short out your nervous sys…NO! _NO-O!!_"

"NATLA!" was instinctively racing through Lara's head when she heard Daniel's scream, and indeed she caught a glimpse of the angry woman from the corner of her eyes, how she was standing fully erect at the lower end of the ramp, screaming a curse in her face and firing her arm cannon at her… Lara flung herself to the side doing the best she could, but in the end it was only the fact that Natla's vision was only gradually recovering that saved her life. The shot was hardly two thirds charged, but more than enough to scorch her arm and set her plait on fire by merely passing closely.

Then it impacted on the gate.

…

... ??.11.1999  probably midday

Lara awoke to what had been an extraordinary dream of powerful colours and shrill voices, amplified to a level that had caused her eyes to burn and her ears to bleed. Her skin burned and her muscles cramped worse then after being tortured for ten hours straight with an electric prod. Before she could even begin to think about why her body was covered with a thin layer of ice she rolled on her stomach, and supporting herself on her elbows she hurled what little she had eaten in the past hours, coloured red by a hefty portion of her blood. Barely finding the strength not to collapse right into the puddle of her own bodily fluids she came to the conclusion that teleportation was probably the most unhealthy thing one could force upon his body to endure. If it was that what had happened to it.

It occurred to her that there was just one yellow sun burning down mercilessly on the sand, and only one sickle formed moon hanging on the horizon before she fainted.

When a group of Tuareg Bedouins found her in the afternoon, she was still weeping bitterly…


End file.
